JST1640/SOC1211: Biblical Archeology

Abstract

This course will introduce students to archaeological data (including texts) from the Land of Israel during the biblical period. • Students will gain biblical cultural literacy and think critically about Biblical peoples. o Students will examine general Canaanite culture and learn to identify the cultural distinctions between Canaanites, Philistines, and Israelites and how negotiating these differences helped shape a distinct Israelite ethnic identity. o While exploring the First Temple period, students will look at the rate of acculturation among these groups as way to better explain the rising tensions between the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah and the diminishing of tensions with the Philistines and Canaanites (now Phoenicians). o Students will compare the political ambitions of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians and how these ambitions dramatically altered the social, political, and economic landscape of the Land of Israel its inhabitants.